1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of payment cards, and in particular, to systems and methods for displaying payment card account information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of payment cards exist, such as prepaid usage cards (one example is a prepaid phone card), credit cards, debit cards, etc. A payment card stores various items of information, including, for example, an account number, a holder identifier, and an issuer identifier, among other things. This information may be employed in order to conduct a transaction and transfer a payment amount.
Information on a payment card is stored magnetically in the form of a magnetic stripe layered on the back of the card. A magnetic reader can read the encoded information. Alternatively, the information is stored in the form of a bar code, where an optical reader reads the encoded information.
In use, a reader device scans the information stored on the card and uses this information to conduct a transaction, which usually entails a payment for goods or services. Therefore, the payment card usually has certain information associated with it, such as a card balance amount and/or a card limit amount. Consequently, when the payment card is used, the electronic device conducting the transaction verifies the authenticity of the card, verifies the card balance associated with the card, determines if the current transaction falls within the card limit, and then conducts a financial transaction that subtracts from the balance.
A drawback of the prior art is that the user likely does not know the account information associated with the payment card. In the case of a prepaid phone card, for example, the user may not know how much prepaid calling time is left on the card without using the card. For a credit or debit card, the user may not know the card balance and the card limit. In order to track or determine the account information, the user will generally have to use the payment card in order to obtain account information or will have to mentally track the values. Mentally tracking the account information may be difficult, especially if the payment card is infrequently used. Neither of these approaches is satisfactory.